A young Taiwanese farmer got rid of his father’s betel nut trees and started growing lemon trees instead. Little did he know that this simple switch would change the lives of his family members. The juice from his lemons has won first prize in a global blind tasting contest.
Lin Hsuan-he is his name. He grew up in Pingtung and his family grew betel nut trees for a living. Even though they were making good money, Lin’s father and relatives came down with cancer one by one from chewing betel nuts, which are a carcinogenic stimulant.
Lin decided to do something drastic. Then just 23, he secretly cut down all the betel nut trees on his family’s property. After many years of trial and error, he has since successfully learned to grow organic lemons instead, and has persuaded local farmers to work with him.
Lin’s success has surprised Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung. At a promotional event, Chen told the story of an old woman who learned to grow huge quantities of lemons from Lin. Chen said that the lemons are top-notch. The quality is such that Taiwan is now exporting lemon juice to the US for the first time in history.
This year, Lin came up with a new idea: mixing lemon juice with guava juice. The bottled juice is now on sale around Taiwan at four major supermarket chains. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Lin has been able to sell more than 10,000 bottles of the lemon-guava juice each day.